Chapter 13 | Accidents Befall the Vulnerable

The rising sun lit up my apartment in golden color, waking me up a little earlier than I had wanted. Ugh, I forgot to close the curtains… As much as I wanted to linger in bed, I prepared myself for school and waited for Akane.

Today would have been the last day of my training with Kisuke per our one week agreement, but unfortunately he had left with Tessai on some urgent business with no information on when they'd be back. They talked about Naruki… that's close to Tokyo I think?

I shook my head. No point dwelling on something I had no control over, something I had to learn the hard way growing up. Akane finally arrived and we left for school.

And it was great. It wasn't something an average teenager would say, but I was able to return back to my mundane life with Akane and Chie. A life without ghosts, without Shinigami, and most definitely without hollows. Even the girls that had been absent after seeing the ghost of the principal were back, although they were almost like different people now, their abrasive behavior gone with the wind.

I felt remorse. Even with their history of bullying, they didn't deserve to carry this kind of trauma for the rest of their lives. The police did investigate the school while it was being repaired, but couldn't find any culprit. Not that it was possible, since it was the result of a monstrous, rampaging ghost.

After school, Akane and I parted ways with Chie and visited Urahara Shop. We found only Jun working there, moving and stacking merchandise.

"Sorry, the owner's still away…" he said with a sad look on his face, scratching his hair.

"Can we adopt him?" Akane whispered to me.

I shook my head, stifling a laugh. "It's not your fault, Kuroda-kun, I'm just a bit frustrated. He promised me a full week…"

Tessai had left Jun instructions on how to continue with Akane, so the two of them were going to continue where they had left off.

"Go ahead, Akane. I'll go look for Takenaka-san, since I doubt I can do much without a sparring partner. I'll leave my body here though, so keep an eye on it, alright?"

Akane nodded with a knowing smirk, to which I responded with a deathly stare. I left my body on a bedroll that had become quite familiar to me during the past week.

Now that I had managed to pin down the basics of hohō, I wanted to test it outside of the basement at last. Out there in the real world. I sought out the tallest building in the vicinity and propelled myself in its direction.

A sharp whistle hit my ears as I shot through the air, and my heart dropped to my stomach. I forced my eyes to stay open, lest an accident happened.

Just before hitting one of its windows, I flared my reiatsu inside me and absorbed my momentum again, but this time instead of letting it disperse, I used it to further fling myself upwards.

The end result was that I was running up the outside wall of the building. I could hardly believe it. I thought this was only possible in fiction..!

I couldn't use those reishi pads that Hisashi used, but as long as I had some surface underneath my feet I was able to orient myself well enough.

Once I reached the roof edge, I flung beyond it, causing me to panic for a moment. I did an awkward somersault and just barely landed on my feet on the roof. Safe! Only as I calmed down from the adrenaline did I take notice of the scenic view in front of me.

Beautiful... It was a view unlike any I had seen before. I could see far into the distance and everything in between. A sea of buildings, with tall ones rising in the center, and newer ones being built in the developing sector.

I finally had the means to move around as I pleased, unobstructed. I simply watched in silence, feeling the wind on my face at these heights, brushing away the few tears that formed. So this is what true freedom feels like.

As much as I could've stood there for the rest of the day, I still had to find a certain Shinigami.

"Now, where are you," I wondered out loud as I amplified my reikaku. I recalled that I had a new technique available to me, the one I used to track down Kinji, the one that Kisuke called reiraku. As long as I could repeat what I did back then, finding Hisashi would be a piece of cake.

I closed my eyes for a moment, focusing on the feeling I had back then. As I reopened them, the different sources of reiatsu that I felt started to coalesce into reishi, forming ribbons that surrounded me from all sides. Some were pristine white and wide. Others were translucent and narrow. But there was also one colored ribbon, a deep red one. It matched Hisashi's reiatsu.

"So Shinigami have a different color?" I mused as I grabbed his ribbon. The rest of them disintegrated as I locked onto Hisashi's signature.

I looked down from the building, only now realizing how high up I was. Fear gripped me and my heart started beating quite hard. It's alright, Koharu, you can flash step yourself, right? Stay calm…

Mustering all the courage I had, I approached the edge of the roof. I locked my eyes onto a nearby roof in the right direction. Kisuke did tell me I should practice, after all.

With my destination in mind, I willed myself towards it. Since this technique was performed at a speed faster than the eyes could naturally follow, I had to rely on instincts. Thankfully I reappeared on the roof I saw, but I tumbled and fell. I wasn't able to completely neutralize my momentum nor fully reduce the squeezing sensations inside my body.

Okay, this could've gone better, I reprimanded myself. Now let's do it again but better!

Despite my slow start, I managed to find Hisashi rather quickly by one of the railroads where he just finished performing konsō on a poor soul.

"What the—Koharu-chan? What are you doing here?"

"Urahara-sensei isn't at his shop today, so I decided to bother you instead."

"I swear.." Hisashi facepalmed. "Well, now that you're here, maybe you can assist me. I got a report that there's an increased amount of souls lingering today."

I raised an eyebrow. "You mean you can't sense them? Oh.. right, sorry, I forgot." I covered my giggle with my hand.

"What's so funny?" Hisashi's eye twitched.

"Nothing, Lieutenant." I smiled, closed my eyes and did my best to map out the various faint reiatsu signals that didn't belong to living humans. Wow, he's right. That's a surprising amount of them.

"Did something happen?"

Hisashi's gaze lingered on me, before he sighed and looked to his right. "A power shortage at one of the hospitals. Backup power failed to start as well. Worse yet, it's been two hours already and they still haven't managed to bring power back."

I covered my mouth, my eyes widening. That's… horrible. No doubt the patients that relied on life support have already… I swallowed hard. "What caused it?"

Hisashi shook his head.

Furrowing my eyebrows, I considered whether I could do something to help the stuck victims, but I was out here without a physical body. The best thing I could do was to focus on the spiritual side of things. Whatever happened at the hospital… I'm sure there's professionals on the scene as we speak. Hopefully.

We combed the nearby areas, working just like when we started out with my Shinigami-aide responsibility. I looked for the wandering souls while Hisashi sent them on their way safely to Soul Society, however something still bothered me.

"Hisashi-kun, I think we should take a look at the hospital."

"I checked the area already, if that's what you're thinking."

"You did?" I raised an eyebrow. "Still, I think it's worth another look. Sure, there's an increased amount of lingering souls in the area, but don't you think it's… less than what you'd expect? I mean, a hospital, out of any power for two hours, and only a dozen souls? Don't you think that's too little?"

Hisashi pondered for a moment. "Yeah, now that you mention it, it's weird."

"You said you checked the area, but did you check inside the hospital?"

He averted his eyes, scratching the back of his head. "I, uh, waited for them to come outside, where I could see them…"

I facepalmed. "Let's go, Lieutenant Big-Brain."

Shunpo took us both to the hospital quickly. It was surrounded by fire trucks, ambulances and police cars, and ladders were being extended towards windows, evacuating patients. It looked like a slow process, as only one ladder could take one patient, and it was even harder with bedridden patients.

Hisashi and I stood on the roof of a building on the opposite side of the road. "Good job at keeping up. So, do you sense anything?"

I gave him a smirk, before taking a more serious expression and closed my eyes to focus. The hospital was surrounded by firefighters, paramedics and the police, but the building itself was strangely devoid of any presence. All in all, a very morbid scene. I focused harder, drowning out the signals of the living. Some lingering souls appeared, however they were overshadowed by two rather weird signatures. One of them felt faintly like a hollow.

"Thirty-second floor, a faint hollow signature!" I told Hisashi. He nodded and flash stepped towards a window on that floor, smashing right through it. Crude, but effective. The firemen below reacted to it in alarm and confusion. I simply followed suit.

The halls of the hospital were lit up by the evening sun, but the deeper in we went, the darker it became. We used kidō to hover a ball of light on our palms.

"Point the direction, Koharu-chan," Hisashi said with embellished confidence. It looked like he intended to be at the front, despite me being the one guiding us. Talk about being salty.

We took a few turns until we were just one turn short of a hall where I could sense the two presences. "In there," I whispered. Strange, I can't feel any hollows despite the faint trace…

Hisashi nodded, took a deep breath, and drew his zanpakutō, dispelling his light. "Hey, wai-"

He threw himself towards the hall, shouting. That idiot!

I followed after him only to find that he stopped right after the turn. Blue light came from beyond, which my eyes finally distinguished as a glowing bow with an arrow pointed at Hisashi. A bow… made of reishi?

Holding it was an elderly yet fit man with bushy grey hair and a moustache. Despite Hisashi's reaction, his expression showed no aggression. Behind him hid a girl, no older than ten years.

"Quincy…" Hisashi grit his teeth, holding his sword up in a defensive position.

"Please, we are not your enemies, Shinigami," the elderly man said. He lowered his bow and the blue reishi dispersed, leaving behind a simple blue orb of light, much like the one that hovered on my palm.

Hisashi didn't look convinced at all, still holding his sword up.

"Easy there, hotpants!" I put my hand on his arm and pushed it down to lower his weapon. "They're clearly not our enemies, and neither are we theirs."

Hisashi glared at me, before taking a deep breath and finally sheathing his zanpakutō. The elderly man relaxed as well, moving his free hand to stroke his beard. Now that we weren't at each other's throats, he actually looked quite gentle.

"My name is Ishida Sōken." He bowed. "I do think we are here for the same reasons."

"I'm Tamaki Koharu." I glared at Hisashi, readying my elbow.

"Takenaka Hisashi," he followed suit, moving his hand to protect his ribs.

Sōken smiled gently. "I'm pleased to meet you, even in these odd circumstances."

I glanced towards the little girl behind Sōken, holding onto his leg and peeking from the side, fear in her eyes. The old man gently touched her back, beckoning her to come further.

"She was hiding in one of the wards," he explained, looking at her with sorrow, who was in turn staring intently at us. "Now it's also clear that she can see spirits."

I walked closer, lowering myself closer to her level. The girl gripped Sōken's trousers, but didn't hide. She's clearly human, but… there's traces of hollow reiatsu on her? That can't mean anything good.

Any reason for that had to be bleak in some way, so I shook my head and focused on the old man now. Despite him being much more relaxed now, he still felt ill at ease.

"Ishida-san, right? What is it?" I asked, straightening myself. "You know something, don't you?" Hisashi came closer now as well, trusting in my lead finally, albeit awkwardly.

Sōken sighed. "You're a very perceptive girl. That said, you're not a Shinigami like your friend here?"

I shook my head. "Just your average… err, less-than-average high schooler."

"I see," he nodded. "My son could probably learn a thing or two from you."

Hisashi was tapping his foot against the floor, arms crossed. I also felt like he was trying to beat around the bush, but thankfully he finally returned to the topic at hand.

"There were three hollows here. One of them was clearly the leader, and was surprisingly intelligent," he began, face turning somber. "By the records of the officials downstairs, both the link to the power grid and the emergency power generator were as if dissolved in acid."

The implications were dire. "Wait, I thought hollows only went after lingering souls? That they don't touch the living?"

Hisashi closed his eyes. "Yes, that's how they usually operate. That's why intelligent hollows are an even bigger problem."

Sōken nodded. "To come up with such a plan…"

"In any case, it's safe to assume one of them has abilities related to acid then," Hisashi continued. "What else?"

The old man shook his head. "When I got to them and fired my arrows, they immediately retreated. I barely made it in time for this girl here."

Three hollows, working together under a boss… I shuddered. That was something new. Sure, those in Urahara's hollow pit sort of worked together, but more like a mindless mob. It didn't count.

I couldn't sense any hollow presence in the hospital at the moment, except that faint trace from the girl. It didn't look like Sōken was going to reveal anything else. We're still missing a piece of the puzzle… I glanced at the girl, who had been quiet this entire time.

I lowered myself again to her level. "Hey there. What's your name?" She didn't respond, but glanced towards Hisashi and Sōken. They both stared at her.

She's just nervous, I realized. And these two weapon-swinging guys aren't the most comfort-inspiring sort.

"May I talk privately with her for a second?" I said, rising up and putting my hands on my hips. "You guys are scaring her."

Sōken blinked in confusion, but understood the situation rather quickly. It was surprising how ready he was to trust considering everything. Hisashi on the other hand wasn't as easy to convince.

"You can't be serious, Koharu-chan…"

"What?"

"We're so not splitting up. There's never been a single time that has gone well for anyone, ever."

"Jeez, I'm not going to the other side of the building you idiot, just some distance down the hall with some actual windows and light. You'll be able to see us the whole time. Now, be a respectable Shinigami, and keep our friend some good company."

I extended my hand to the girl with a smile, and she thankfully took it. I led her away from the two but looked over my shoulder one last time. "And no fighting!"

Despite the distance, I could feel Hisashi's stare as if he were right beside me. Come on, man…

I smiled for the girl's sake. "Now then, there's nothing to be scared of."

"Tomoe."

"Excuse me?" I blinked.

"Tomoe." She pointed at herself, her eyes locked onto mine.

"Well Tomoe-chan, it's nice to meet you. I want to ask you some things, if that's okay?"

She nodded.

"Why were you here? When the lights went out?"

"I was visiting my Ma."

My heart sank. There was a very high chance that her mother was dead now.

"Well you're safe now, Tomoe-chan. Those two over there?" I pointed towards Hisashi and Sōken who were now talking to each other. "They're strong. They can protect you."

The girl shook her head.

"What is it? You don't think so?"

"They are not after me."

I paused, narrowing my eyes. I had to ask the obvious question. "Who are they after then?"

Tomoe pointed at me.

Almost choking, I did my best to not show how I was panicking and took a deep breath. "Tomoe-chan… what do you mean by them?"

The girl broke eye contact, clearly looking for words. "White faces," she eventually responded. "One with a long nose."

My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach. Oh. Oh shit. Thoughts raced in my head. I had already come to believe that he was gone for good, and now reality was crashing down on me.

I immediately extended my senses as far as I could. Was all of this just a setup? An ambush? It also explained why they had left the moment Sōken came into the picture. If there were three of them, they weren't interested in a fair fight.

I bit the nail of my thumb. The whole idea that Kinji, or the hollow that he became, had come back and was specifically targeting me, was beyond terrifying. I shuddered, images of my last encounter with him flashing in my mind.

"Did they do anything to you?" I finally ask, despite feeling a lump in my throat.

Tomoe nodded, turning her head. "My shoulder." There was a tiny hole in her clothes and a small red puncture wound that had already healed. So not only did they cause a lot of sudden deaths, but also attacked a living human? Why didn't they finish the deed then?

I shook these thoughts away. I need to stick to Hisashi as much as I can and tell him about this. "Tomoe-chan, let's go to the others. Don't worry, they're nice people."

I led Tomoe back to Hisashi and Sōken, who thankfully were on much friendlier terms now with each other, even having a rather intellectual discussion. Sōken was explaining some sort of response system to hollows that he had in mind. Something about Quincies being the first line of defense for humans until the Shinigami would arrive to dispose of hollows to 'return them to the cycle.'

I still had no idea what a 'Quincy' even was.

"I'll be honest, I have my doubts, but I do think it's a logical idea," Hisashi scratched the back of his head. "But it'll take a lot to convince others, especially the Central 46."

"We're back," I interrupted their conversation, proceeding to explain the things I had found out.

"So it's that bastard again that almost killed you?" Hisashi asked, furrowing his brows. I nodded, clenching my fists. It ate me up inside that I failed to kill that bloodsucker. Even more so the fact that I technically let him live. Now because of him a lot of people have died. Because of my negligence.

"I'll definitely need to report this," Hisashi continued, "this hollow needs to be registered and tracked as quickly as possible."

Sōken stroked his beard. "Hollows don't usually interact with the living," he mused, "only those who were very wicked in life do."

Hisashi nodded. "That usually means only one thing. Hell."

I blinked. Hell? Are they for real?

"You should send the leftover lingering souls to the afterlife," Sōken closed his eyes. "I'll stay until power is returned. If the hollows fled because of my presence, then maybe I'll be able to provide some safety." He glanced towards Tomoe.

I exchanged looks with Hisashi, then lowered myself. "Tomoe-chan, I want you to stay with Ishida-san here. You'll be safe with him, okay?"

She nodded, silent once more.

"Then we'll be parting ways here, right?" I forced a smile. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Ishida-san. Will the two of you get out alright?"

"Likewise, my dear friends. We'll pose as stranded guests, that ought to convince them all fine." Sōken chuckled. "Good luck, youngsters."

We wrapped up with the remaining lingering souls just as power was restored to the hospital, the lights flickering on. With the job done, we left the building, though we did take a breather first on the roof of the building. The sun was low on the horizon, coloring the clouds and facing buildings shades of orange and red.

I had overheard a bunch of things that I didn't understand, so I used this opportunity to get some explanations out of Hisashi.

"You called him 'Quincy.' What's that?"

"Uhh… How to put it," he began, sighing. Sounds like a big can of worms.

"They're a tribe of spiritually aware humans who, like Shinigami, fight hollows."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"If it were that simple, things could be looking quite different. Unfortunately, there's a fundamental issue that makes it all difficult. Our zanpakutō, they're called soul-cutters for a reason."

Hisashi explained that the weapon acts as a purifier of souls, purging them so that they may undergo the cycle of reincarnation again.

"Some souls cannot be purified completely though due to extensive negative karma. Committing sins against life knowingly, hurting others willingly… They are instead sent to Hell. Grinded until the soul is purified or completely pulverized."

He explained the importance of the cycle of reincarnation, a foundation on which the world as we knew it depended on. Human souls were incredibly complex, so much in fact that creating new ones was very difficult. But at the same time they were nigh indestructible.

"The Quincies though, they do precisely that. The hollows they kill with their arrows, their souls are gone forever. Less souls in the cycle means the spiritual balance of the realms is disrupted."

I scratched my head. "What does that mean in practice?"

"For example, stillbirth." Hisashi waited, watching it sink in for me. "The cycle is strained as it is with the constantly growing human population and the wars that humans love to wage. The Quincies aren't exactly helping. We tried to negotiate with them, to make them stop, but they did not listen."

With a weary sigh, Hisashi explained that there had been a bloody war between the Shinigami and Quincies.

"We won and the few surviving Quincies fled around the world. But that doesn't mean they'll stop harming the cycle."

That sounds like a murky patch of history, I thought to myself. A can of worms indeed. But that brought me to even more questions.

"What happens if I kill a hollow? I don't have a fancy sword like you."

"For the most part, you do the same thing, just not as cleanly. Hakuda literally means 'white hits', as in hitting a hollow's mask."

This just confused me further. "Then what's so special about the zanpakutō then?"

Hisashi drew his blade, letting the setting sun's rays reflect off the flat side. "As I said before, one of the zanpakutō's functions is the purification of souls, but it also specifically sends them to Soul Society. Any other means will destroy the spiritual body, yes, but the entity of a soul itself, the very core, will drift away from this world and end up somewhere else. Regular souls dirft to Soul Society. Hollows on the other hand, unless fully purified, seem to drift elsewhere."

"Elsewhere? Like Hueco Mundo?"

Hisashi nodded. "Very likely."

I raised my hand to count on my fingers. "This world, Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, now Hell… just how many of these realms are there?"

"Two more, actually. There's the Beast Realm for the souls of animals, and the Royal Realm, home to the Soul King—Reiō and the royal family."

"The What-King now?" I tilted my head. This was becoming very confusing, very fast.

Hisashi furrowed his eyebrows and scratched the back of his head. "The Soul King. The lynchpin of the world, the force that drives the cycle of reincarnation, yadda yadda, I'm not a walking encyclopedia, okay?!"

I raised my hands up. "Sheesh, I was just trying to understand things, that's all, no need to get all angry." It was good to end it there anyways, I felt like any more and my head would've exploded.

Hisashi escorted me to Urahara's shop and left to continue his duties. I barely kept up with his shunpo. That asshole… is this payback for before?

Akane was waiting for me at the shop, having stopped with her own training about an hour ago. I slipped back into my physical body, only to find out that I was really, really hungry. Thankfully Jun provided me with some food.

Before leaving, Akane made sure to give Jun a big, but rather forceful hug. It was amusing watching Jun squirm in her arms, doing his best to not dissolve from embarrassment. Never knew Akane was one to dote on others like this.

While riding the tram, I told Akane about what had happened.

"Shit. So that creepy principal is now after you? Persistent creep!" Akane practically spat out the words.

"Well, I don't exactly know for sure, but it's safer to assume so."

"Well, if he does come for you, he'll have to get through me!" She slammed her fist into an open palm.

"What? No! If it comes to it, you run!"

"Have you so little faith in me, Koharu? Why I ought to show you!" Akane proceeded to take me into a headlock. Does she have to do that every time we disagree?! I wrestled out of her arms just barely as she laughed.

"Ha… I'm serious, Akane. This… this isn't a joking matter anymore. A whole hospital's worth of people died because of him. So just… keep yourself and Chie-chan safe, okay?"

She watched me, her expression deathly serious for once. "I get it, Koharu. I promise. But you don't have to suffer with this burden alone, you hear me?"

We parted ways at my door as always, wishing each other good night. A light snack and then directly to bed. I could sense Hisashi sitting on the roof, standing guard as he's done for many nights now. Before his presence made me feel like I was being stalked by a pervert, now it felt nice to have someone watching my back. Especially now that I had a target on my back.